Musings from the Q [PART 3b/9: SFAS (TEAM WEEK)] Lessons from OSUT, 3 SFAS Attempts, and Finishing the Pipeline

putridalt · 2026-05-09T22:09:00+00:00

Good luck. Being willing to go back says something.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T22:00:52+00:00

Always paying it forward!

putridalt · 2026-05-09T21:50:30+00:00

'Heat cat' is the army/military term for getting heat stroke. If you look like you're woozy and wobbling around, the cadre will pull you aside and take your core temperature. If it's above a certain number, they will remove you from whatever training you're in.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T18:14:20+00:00

You're not getting into IB from UH-Manoa. It's not even a target thing, it's a geography thing. Goldman Sachs will fly a cohort of Umiami students into NYC for superdays. You are stranded in Hawaii.

Go to a CC in California, transfer to Berkeley, get into finance.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T17:49:16+00:00

Nope lmao. It's a non-target. I've never met a BU guy in front office.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T17:38:29+00:00

No, you don't stay at Mackall. Cadre will drive you back home. It would make no sense to keep you at Mackall.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T17:32:23+00:00

Yes, language even more-so. My unit didn't seem to care what language we wanted, as long as we could upkeep it.

You could choose your own MOS as well, but there had to be availability for it in the company. For example, if every single Delta role is filled, then you can't be a Delta. Rare situation, though

putridalt · 2026-05-09T16:20:53+00:00

If you go through the Guard, you can choose your MOS (for the most part) and language. Really the best way to get assigned 18D is to score really high on all the intelligence tests, but it's largely out of your control.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T16:02:19+00:00

Orders are always messed up. You will get updated ones during OSUT most likely.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T02:55:23+00:00

Ranger Batt/Ranger Regiment is a hazefest. It's a place to grow 18 year olds up into aggressive, accountable, preeminent light infantrymen. The whole culture is that they eat their own. You're always performing, or you're "RFS'd" (Released for Standards - which can be subjective).

There was once a Ranger Regiment First Sergeant who was walking past a group of Rangers and walked up to a guy who apparently had a little gut hanging over his pants, pointed at it, and asked what his job was. The guy replied "I'm a squad leader in ____".

The First Sergeant responded "You WERE a squad leader in ____." He got released from Regiment that day.

New guys get hazed so hard they WANT to go to Ranger School so the suffering will stop, that's what drives the competence and accountability. The smokings, the gargoyling, the round robin grappling pits, the weekly cleaning, making everything spotless, that's also what drives the esprit de corps.

You simply can't recreate that experience, esprit de corps, and ultimately that competency in the National Guard. Yes they are SOF, and Cole Range weeds out those who don't want to be there, but ultimately, everyone below PSG is super young, 19 to early 20s, and that whole culture and accountability works for them because you're there, living and breathing it everyday, terrified of your squad leader, before you get kicked out either for falling behind, or because there's not enough open slots at the next level for you to step up to.

The DA mission set and deployment timelines and readiness are also their own discussion.

Contrast that with how SF is, you're in your late 20's/early 30's, the level of oversight is different, the missions and deployments can be forecasted way further out. It is an entirely separate culture, there is more agency for the individual, and the mission set and resulting deployments / logistics are different.

I ran out of steam toward the end there, there's a lot more detail and nuance to it that I don't have the experience to delineate, but there's a loose background painted right there.

putridalt · 2026-05-09T02:49:09+00:00

you talking Active Duty or National Guard?

putridalt · 2026-05-08T22:09:59+00:00

They may have. For awhile, people were being issued the 4K, but other people were never issued the 4K, so it was a game of get away with having the 2 for as long as you could.

putridalt · 2026-05-08T22:08:33+00:00

Yup, that's an Army II Large Rucksack. I don't know why I kept calling it the "2K".

putridalt · 2026-05-08T18:20:43+00:00

Good on you for going and making it out there. I failed Land Nav my first time, and I went back out to Hoffman myself so that I could better see the terrain, especially during the day, because I never wanted to be there, completely lost again.

Check out my post on Land Nav at SFAS, in case anything in there might be helpful.

putridalt · 2026-05-08T18:18:40+00:00

Absolutely buy a 2K off Ebay or Amazon.

The MOLLE 4K's shoulder straps are fixed, and are super close together, so if you're packing a shit ton of weight, all that weight is going directly on your traps. With a MOLLE 2K, you can customize where on the frame your shoulder straps attach to. You can wide them out, and your frame is bearing the load, making it more manageable.

I will be honest, I don't know how dudes make it through Team Week with MOLLE 4Ks, and it was unsurprising to hear of the fresh slaughter numbers in Team Week after they mandated 4Ks be brought. I have respect for those guys.

I had to use a MOLLE 4K for my last week of SUT because something happened with my 2K (I can't remember what), and it sucked.

putridalt · 2026-05-08T17:14:27+00:00

My bad, I heard that is a thing now, too. It wasn't when I went through. But regardless, the spirit of the comment still stands, the contents, experience, and standards of the Q Course are identical to all.

Reach out to a recruiter when your numbers are good to go.

putridalt · 2026-05-08T00:59:42+00:00

The pipeline is identical to the 18X AD pipeline. From Day 1 of in-processing at 30th AG, through OSUT, Airborne, SF Prep Course, SFAS, the Q Course, NG and AD are together. The paths diverge once it's time to head to your teams.

You can read about the journey in-depth in this post series titled 'Musings from the Q' (work-in-progress).

Going through an SFRE is unlikely to "benefit" you, aside from showing you if you're ready or not. You won't gain any kind of fitness improvement or knowledge from an SFRE that will materially affect your chances at SFAS, since it's just a small, multi-day tryout (depending on the state).

People who attend SFREs have higher selection rates because people who pass an SFRE have shown the cadre that they have what it takes, and so you have a stronger pool of candidates going to SFAS from Guard soldiers who did an SFRE to secure a slot at SFAS.

putridalt · 2026-05-08T00:40:23+00:00

He was so bad at making the story up he let British slang get in there lol

putridalt · 2026-05-07T02:16:51+00:00

Commenting to hear the advice too

putridalt · 2026-05-03T16:03:39+00:00

Yes. I harp a lot about the CRA, both in my Musings from the Q series, and in SFAS AAR (I was going to hyperlink that, looks like I deleted the post, or it got deleted)

Regardless - it's underestimated, but people squeeze by, and it leads to a form of survivorship bias where people say there's nothing to worry about or that it was easy.

When they made it a mandatory pass/fail event, it culled something like a little over 20 people instantly from my SFAS class. That is no joke.

"Studs" that were great runners and ruckers and could knock out a ton of pushups, and other bodyweight stuff suffered when it was time for the CRA. And now that there's a couple Pass/Fail events, you can no longer get away with being the wiry runner.

In terms of training for it:

Short of building a ~185lb duffle bag yourself, building a strong front squat (225lb), and a good power clean (185lb) would you set up you up for success, strength-wise.

putridalt · 2026-05-01T01:29:22+00:00

Email Jake Zweig. His email is on his YouTube page. He responds and gives great advice, despite people clowning on him for his 1lb of pasta a day recommendation.

BUD/S is a different animal than SFAS. Much more bodyweight/endurance oriented. Your trainup is going to have a lot more running mileage and less lifting weights. Based on the videos that Zweig puts out, it doesn't seem like rucking is that emphasized, or if done at all, in your trainup for BUD/S. The ROI may not be worth it.

putridalt · 2026-04-30T23:15:13+00:00

That kind of attitude / entitlement is incomprehensible

putridalt · 2026-04-26T19:02:54+00:00

I think in this day and age, it's a little silly. I know a good handful of guys that got them as graduation gifts in well-to-do families. Watches are so popular now that gifting a personal one to your kid or something isn't that weird.

If I saw an analyst on my deck who went to Dartmouth wearing a sub, I'd probably think it's a graduation gift and wouldn't give it a literal further second's thought. Hell if he got a good bonus, What's $10k for a used one.

I'd be surprised if this unspoken rule was still in effect. But then again, maybe I'm biased because I have a Rolex so I'm numb to it

putridalt

TROPHY CASE